Road Trip Summary: Sisters, Secrets, and an Irish Adventure

Road Trip Book Summary: The Full Story

Spoiler warning: this section reveals major plot points, including the ending.

The novel opens in 1926 at Tarrymore Estate in County Wicklow, Ireland. Lady Delia Rossington cuts a valuable portrait of Lady Geraldine from its frame and packs it into a valise along with jewelry and a letter to a priest in New York.

She is sending eighteen-year-old Kathleen Rose Connor, the illegitimate daughter of Lord Edward Rossington, to safety in America. Kathleen says a tearful goodbye to her nine-year-old brother, Tommy, before boarding the S.S. Cedric out of Cobh.

In present-day Savannah, Georgia, sisters Maeve and Therese Dunagin gather for their mother Mary Helen’s funeral Mass. Maeve, an associate professor of creative writing, has spent fourteen months caring for Mary Helen through dementia and cancer. Therese, a nomadic actress, arrives late in their mother’s 1988 Chrysler LeBaron.

After the funeral, Uncle Keith delivers two revelations. Mary Helen was scammed out of $325,000 by televangelist Brother Jerome, who convinced her to mortgage her paid-off home. She also left $9,000 in a rusty coffee can, which Keith matches, for a total of $18,000 designated for the sisters to take a road trip to Ireland.

Therese shows the inherited portrait of Lady Geraldine to an art acquaintance, who suspects it may be an original work stolen during a 1974 IRA heist at Tarrymore Estate.

Maeve and Therese book flights to Ireland to authenticate the painting and fulfill their mother’s wish.

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In County Wicklow, the sisters check into the Tarrymore Inn. Maeve meets Liam Grogan, the distillery’s master distiller, while Therese befriends Lady Esme Rossington, an eccentric aristocrat living in a decaying cottage. They also meet their elderly cousin Isabel Woods, who gives them a box of Kathleen’s letters from 1926 to 1936.

The letters reveal Kathleen’s hard life in New York shirt factories, her brief marriage to Brendan Fahey, and her second marriage to Patrick John Murphy. Meanwhile, the sisters face unsettling incidents: their rental car tires are slashed, and a vehicle swerves toward them on a dark road.

Therese gets Esme drunk and learns that Esme was involved in the 1974 IRA heist with gang leader Starr McGahee. Esme reveals that the stolen painting she hid was actually a duplicate, and that Lady Delia was murdered in 1926 by family members during a struggle over jewelry and the portrait.

When Maeve discovers her passport is missing, she returns to Esme’s cottage and catches handyman Reggie O’Malley looting the house. Reggie attacks her with a knife, and Maeve defends herself with a silver candlestick. Police arrive and discover that Reggie had poisoned and strangled Esme in her bed.

Solicitor Billy McCracken reveals that Esme altered her will before her death, leaving her entire estate to Maeve and Therese as guardians for her cocker spaniel, Sinead. Therese confesses that she hid Maeve’s passport in the inn’s safe to force her to stay in Ireland and pursue her romance with Liam.

Back in Savannah, Therese works with attorney Scott Childress to obtain sworn statements from former bank teller Arletha Carter. The evidence proves the bank ignored warnings about Mary Helen’s cognitive impairment, and the bank writes off the $325,000 mortgage in full. Therese buys Mary Helen’s home and begins a relationship with Scott.

Maeve chooses to stay in Ireland, moving into Esme’s cottage and writing a historical novel based on Kathleen’s life.

In Road Trip, Mary Kay Andrews shows Maeve committing to a relationship with Liam Grogan, and six months later they marry at St. Bonaventure Church in Ireland, surrounded by their reunited family.

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Characters in Road Trip

Character	Role
Maeve Dunagin	Associate professor of creative writing at Georgia Southern who cares for her dying mother and later moves to Ireland.
Therese “Terri” Dunagin	Maeve’s older sister, an actress who works with an attorney to resolve the mortgage fraud and settles in Savannah.
Mary Helen Sullivan Dunagin	Deceased mother of Maeve and Therese whose coffee-can savings fund prompts the trip to Ireland.
Keith Dunagin	Mary Helen’s brother-in-law and pharmacy owner who serves as executor of her estate and matches her savings fund.
Liam Grogan	Master distiller at Tarrymore Distillery who helps Maeve explore local history and becomes her husband.
Lady Esme Rossington	Aristocrat living at Tarrymore Estate who was involved in the 1974 IRA heist and leaves her estate to the sisters.
Kathleen Rose Connor	Maeve and Therese’s great-grandmother who fled Ireland for New York in 1926 with the Lady Geraldine portrait.
Lady Delia Rossington	Spinster aunt at Tarrymore Manor who helped Kathleen escape and was killed in 1926.
Scott Childress	Savannah attorney and family friend who helps Therese with the mortgage case and becomes her partner.
Brother Jerome	Televangelist who defrauded Mary Helen of $325,000 through his Showers of Blessings Cathedral ministry.
Isabel Woods	Elderly cousin living in an Irish care home who gives the sisters Kathleen’s letters from 1926 to 1936.
Arletha Carter	Former bank teller who provides evidence that the bank ignored warnings about Mary Helen’s cognitive state.
Reggie O’Malley	Esme’s handyman who murders Esme, loots her cottage, and attacks Maeve.
Sinead O’Cocker	Esme’s cocker spaniel, left in trust to Maeve and Therese.

Quotes from Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews

“It gives me peace of mind having everything set down in black-and-white.”
— Mary Helen Dunagin to her daughters while outlining her funeral arrangements at Clary’s diner.

“‘when I’m gone, all they’ll have left is each other.'”
— Aunt Fran, quoting Mary Helen’s frequent worry about Maeve and Therese’s estrangement.

“This money is for your trip to Ireland. And I’ll tell you what. To sweeten the pot, I’ll match what she left you. That’s like eighteen thousand dollars. You can take a hell of a trip for that much money.”
— Uncle Keith Dunagin, presenting Mary Helen’s coffee-can savings fund to Maeve and Therese.

“Here in New York, for the first time in my life, I am free to make my own decisions. This new Kathleen is bold. She has learned to be brave.”
— Kathleen Rose Connor, in a 1926 letter to her younger brother Tommy after arriving in America.

“‘Tell the truth and shame the devil,’ that’s what my Bible says”
— Arletha Carter, explaining why she chose to speak out regarding the bank’s failure to protect Mary Helen.

“So what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.”
— Maeve Dunagin, quoting poet Mary Oliver while reflecting at the Connor family cemetery in Ireland.

“I think I owe that to Kathleen. And Mary Helen. But mostly, I owe it to myself.”
— Maeve Dunagin to Liam Grogan, explaining her decision to take a leap of faith and stay in Ireland.

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Mary Kay Andrews

Last Updated: October 17, 2026

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